High-grade urothelial carcinoma with squamous differentiation metastasizing to the tongue.

Tumors metastasizing to the head and neck region are uncommon. Metastasis of urothelial carcinoma to the maxillofacial region is exceedingly rare and mostly involves the jaw. We present a case of urothelial carcinoma metastasizing to the tongue. Immunohistochemistry in conjunction with fluorescent in situ hybridization was used to confirm the relation between the primary and metastatic lesions, making it the first such reported case employing the UroVysion (Catalogue number 02 J27-025, Abbott Molecular Inc., Des Plaines, IL, USA) fluorescent in situ hybridization probe in a metastatic lesion in the head and neck region

A performance evaluation framework for building fault detection and diagnosis algorithms

Fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) algorithms for building systems and equipment represent one of the most active areas of research and commercial product development in the buildings industry. However, far more effort has gone into developing these algorithms than into assessing their performance. As a result, considerable uncertainties remain regarding the accuracy and effectiveness of both research-grade FDD algorithms and commercial products—a state of affairs that has hindered the broad adoption of FDD tools. This article presents a general, systematic framework for evaluating the performance of FDD algorithms. The article focuses on understanding the possible answers to two key questions: in the context of FDD algorithm evaluation, what defines a fault and what defines an evaluation input sample? The answers to these questions, together with appropriate performance metrics, may be used to fully specify evaluation procedures for FDD algorithms

Phase I safety trial of intravenous ascorbic acid in patients with severe sepsis

Background Parenterally administered ascorbic acid modulates sepsis-induced inflammation and coagulation in experimental animal models. The objective of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase I trial was to determine the safety of intravenously infused ascorbic acid in patients with severe sepsis. Methods Twenty-four patients with severe sepsis in the medical intensive care unit were randomized 1:1:1 to receive intravenous infusions every six hours for four days of ascorbic acid: Lo-AscA (50 mg/kg/24 h, n = 8), or Hi-AscA (200 mg/kg/24 h, n = 8), or Placebo (5% dextrose/water, n = 8). The primary end points were ascorbic acid safety and tolerability, assessed as treatment-related adverse-event frequency and severity. Patients were monitored for worsened arterial hypotension, tachycardia, hypernatremia, and nausea or vomiting. In addition Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores and plasma levels of ascorbic acid, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, and thrombomodulin were monitored. Results Mean plasma ascorbic acid levels at entry for the entire cohort were 17.9 ± 2.4 μM (normal range 50-70 μM). Ascorbic acid infusion rapidly and significantly increased plasma ascorbic acid levels. No adverse safety events were observed in ascorbic acid-infused patients. Patients receiving ascorbic acid exhibited prompt reductions in SOFA scores while placebo patients exhibited no such reduction. Ascorbic acid significantly reduced the proinflammatory biomarkers C-reactive protein and procalcitonin. Unlike placebo patients, thrombomodulin in ascorbic acid infused patients exhibited no significant rise, suggesting attenuation of vascular endothelial injury. Conclusions Intravenous ascorbic acid infusion was safe and well tolerated in this study and may positively impact the extent of multiple organ failure and biomarkers of inflammation and endothelial injury

The effects of diesel exhaust pollution on floral volatiles and the consequences for honey bee olfaction

There is growing evidence of a substantial decline in pollinators within Europe and North America, most likely caused by multiple factors such as diseases, poor nutrition, habitat loss, insecticides, and environmental pollution. Diesel exhaust could be a contributing factor to this decline, since we found that diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral volatiles, which honey bees require for flower recognition. In this study, we exposed eight of the most common floral volatiles to diesel exhaust in order to investigate whether it can affect volatile mediated plant-pollinator interaction. Exposure to diesel exhaust altered the blend of common flower volatiles significantly: myrcene was considerably reduced, β-ocimene became undetectable, and β-caryophyllene was transformed into its cis-isomer isocaryophyllene. Proboscis extension response (PER) assays showed that the alterations of the blend reduced the ability of honey bees to recognize it. The chemically reactive nitrogen oxides fraction of diesel exhaust gas was identified as capable of causing degradation of floral volatiles

Blending Bathymetry: Combination of image-derived parametric approximations and celerity data sets for nearshore bathymetry estimation

Estimation of nearshore bathymetry is important for accurate prediction of nearshore wave conditions. However, direct data collection is expensive and time-consuming while accurate airborne lidar-based survey is limited by breaking waves and decreased light penetration affected by water turbidity. Instead, tower-based platforms or Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) can provide indirect video-based observations. The video-based time-series imagery provides wave celerity information and time-averaged (timex) or variance enhanced (var) images identify persistent regions of wave breaking. In this work, we propose a rapid and improved bathymetry estimation method that takes advantage of image-derived wave celerity and a first-order bathymetry estimate from Parameter Beach Tool (PBT), software that fits parameterized sandbar and slope forms to the timex or var images. Two different sources of the data, PBT and wave celerity, are combined or blended optimally based on their assumed accuracy in a statistical framework. The PBT-derived bathymetry serves as "prior" coarse-scale background information and then is updated and corrected with the imagery-derived wave data through the dispersion relationship, which results in a better bathymetry estimate that is consistent with imagery-based wave data. To illustrate the accuracy of our proposed method, imagery data sets collected in 2017 at the US Army EDRC's Field Research Facility in Duck, NC under different weather and wave height conditions are tested. Estimated bathymetry profiles are remarkably close to the direct survey data. The computational time for the estimation from PBT-based bathymetry and imagery-derived wave celerity is only about five minutes on a free Google Cloud node with one CPU core. These promising results indicate the feasibility of reliable real-time bathymetry imaging during a single flight of UAS.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, preprint

High Force Unimanual Handgrip Contractions Increase Ipsilateral Sensorimotor Activation and Functional Connectivity

Imaging and brain stimulation studies seem to correct the classical understanding of how brain networks, rather than contralateral focal areas, control the generation of unimanual voluntary force. However, the scaling and hemispheric-specificity of network activation remain less understood. Using fMRI, we examined the effects of parametrically increasing right-handgrip force on activation and functional connectivity among the sensorimotor network bilaterally with 25%, 50%, and 75% maximal voluntary contractions (MVC). High force (75% MVC) unimanual handgrip contractions resulted in greater ipsilateral motor activation and functional connectivity with the contralateral hemisphere compared to a low force 25% MVC condition. The ipsilateral motor cortex activation and network strength correlated with relative handgrip force (% MVC). Increases in unimanual handgrip force resulted in greater ipsilateral sensorimotor activation and greater functional connectivity between hemispheres within the sensorimotor network. (C) 2020 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

RSAT™ process development for post-combustion CO2 capture: Scale-up from laboratory and pilot test data to commercial process design

AbstractIt is believed that a RSAT™ (Regenerable Solvent Absorption Technology) process is the most viable nearterm technology for post-combustion CO2 capture from power plant flue gas. The Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc. (B&W) has deployed a suite of research tools to evaluate and develop the CO2 scrubbing technology, including laboratory, pilot-scale, and simulation modeling capabilities. Since the construction and operation of test facilities require significant resources, it is essential to effectively utilize these research tools by choosing a scale-up approach which provides robust design data for a commercial process while minimizing the amount of experimentation required.The scale-up protocol used for RSAT CO2 scrubbing processes was rigorously developed using rate-based modeling concurrent with acquiring fundamental laboratory and pilot plant data for process validation. These development activities were not conducted in series but rather overlapped to yield an optimized commercial CO2 scrubbing process in a reasonable time frame with a high degree of design confidence [1,2].This paper presents the scale-up protocol used in evaluating the RSAT process which encompasses both laboratory and pilot-scale testing as well as rate-based modeling to achieve a commercial-scale RSAT process design. This document demonstrates the qualification of test data from a packed tower scale-up point of view. Solvent screening research activities recently conducted within B&W successfully demonstrate the scale-up protocol used for RSAT process development. The time and cost of process development can be significantly reduced through rigorous rate-based modeling in conjunction with laboratory experiments and pilot plant validation

Wavelets and graph C∗C^*-algebras

Here we give an overview on the connection between wavelet theory and representation theory for graph $C^{\ast}$-algebras, including the higher-rank graph $C^*$-algebras of A. Kumjian and D. Pask. Many authors have studied different aspects of this connection over the last 20 years, and we begin this paper with a survey of the known results. We then discuss several new ways to generalize these results and obtain wavelets associated to representations of higher-rank graphs. In \cite{FGKP}, we introduced the "cubical wavelets" associated to a higher-rank graph. Here, we generalize this construction to build wavelets of arbitrary shapes. We also present a different but related construction of wavelets associated to a higher-rank graph, which we anticipate will have applications to traffic analysis on networks. Finally, we generalize the spectral graph wavelets of \cite{hammond} to higher-rank graphs, giving a third family of wavelets associated to higher-rank graphs

Tracking elusive and shifting identities of the global fishing fleet

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs billions of dollars per year and is enabled by vessels obfuscating their identity. Here, we combine identities of ~35,000 vessels with a decade of GPS data to provide a global assessment of fishing compliance, reflagging patterns, and fishing by foreign-owned vessels. About 17% of high seas fishing is by potentially unauthorized or internationally unregulated vessels, with hot spots of this activity in the west Indian and the southwest Atlantic Oceans. In addition, reflagging, a tactic often used to obscure oversight, occurs in just a few ports primarily by fleets with high foreign ownership. Fishing by foreign-owned vessels is concentrated in parts of high seas and certain national waters, often flying flags of convenience. These findings can address the global scope of potential IUU fishing and enable authorities to improve oversight